


Before the duel

by Lhumyaki



Series: Reincarnation AU- the 'I'm sorry' verse (OS and stories) [2]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: 'It' has nothing to do with the movie/book, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, But it's sad, English fic even if I don't speah English, Gen, I love Ethan and I'm going to give him a backstory now, I mean, Kids, Not really angsty, One Shot, also, just to be clear, mostly fluff between these two, the fluff is still there, who am I kidding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-09 01:32:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15256476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lhumyaki/pseuds/Lhumyaki
Summary: John Laurent and Carl Jordan were friends, some may say best friends.Then It happened.





	Before the duel

Carl Jordan and John Laurent met in kindergarten. They didn't have any friends, since they arrived one month after the school starts and were new in this small town where everyone knew everyone.

Carl moved because his dad got a job in a high school near the town. John moved because his grandparents lived here and they were now his legal guardians.

And when you're two new kids in a place in wich relationships are already stated, of course you're deemed to be friends with each other.

So, that's how they both met and soon began to bond.  
_____________________

They were four when they became kings of the Other Earth, a newly found planet exactly like ours but filled with magic and speaking animals no one ever heard about.  
They had to go through a serie of trials, to test their intelligence and physical skills, like outsmart the terrifying creatures nobody never found their weakness (singing one specific song which just happened to be Carl and John's favorite and the only one they knew fully), do a somersault, fight a dragon, answer very specific questions they just happened to know all the answers about their favorite shows, and finally prove you knew the other by answering basic questions with a 20% errors. No, 50%, sorry. Not that they care, since they didn't know how percent worked.  
Anyway. Since they were both very good at each of the trials, they just ended up being both kings.

They were five when they had their first serious argument. Carl wanted to invite at his birthday Gregory, the new and very annoying kid. John disliked him and said he would not come to Carl's birthday if Gregory was there. Carl didn't believe him, invited Gregory, and John didn't show up at the said birthday. Carl was mad at John and when John had his birthday one week later, Carl didn't come even if he was invited. They stopped talking to each other, said they will never be friends anymore, and two days later everything was fine again between them.

They also were five when they met Meggy. She was a little girl with pigtails, a bandage always somewhere on her, and a weird appeal to dangerous situations ('dangerous situations' being climbing almost all trees and rocks she could find and falling because she slipped).  
Also, she was already showing she would be a troublemaker later.

Of course, John and Carl became friends with her, and if things had went differently in the future, Carl would certainly have a crush on her.

Meggy introduced them to her little brother, Ethan, a four years old who admired his big sister and would always try to impress her. He would be John's first crush way later.

They were six when they first see someone having their revelation.  
John, Carl and Meggy were playing in Carl's garden. Or, to be more precise, Meggy turned out being a princess from a disappeared kingdom and who could turn herself into a dragon by sheer will, plus being able to talk to all the animals, and she wanted to beat the two kings of the Other Earth because she wanted to be the queen and her dragon's part who allowed her to turn into a dragon was taking over. And now they were fighting, throwing attacks and counterattacks and all this kind of stuff. If John would attack Meggy with his fire power and definitely hit her, Meggy would say it was inefficient because, duh, she was a dragon, then proceed to claw in half Carl, but actually not, because he was wearing a super solid unbreakable armor, and Carl would use his very-specific-to-one-precise-situation-who-just-happened-to-be-this-one powers on Meggy and by so stop her, but no, because Meggy dodged the attack and now it was her turn to act.

They were so into their fight they didn't pay attention to one lonely Ethan, still seeking for attention and his sister's recognizing.  
So, he decided to join the fight and help Meggy as a wonderful knight, full of unlimited powers and with a brown-beige horse with a black maine and tail who was very smart and could talk because he was magic too (his name was Spirit, by the way).

Meggy didn't need help, and Ethan ended being sent away so he wouldn't be a bother.

That's when they heard the scream they finally paid attention back to the boy.  
Ethan climbed on a tree even Meggy wasn't sure about, so he could have her respecting him, and maybe they would allow him to play with them. His grip loosened and he fell.  
The three of them rushed to him only to find him unconscious on the ground. Affraid, they did the only thing they could think about: find an adult.  
It's a confused Cameron Jordan they found in his office, definitely not looking after the four kids he was put in charge to.

They went to the nearest hospital, a little building in the town, and luckily, Ethan didn't let appeared any brain damage, only a broken arm because he fell on it. If he was unconscious, it may be from fear or something else.  
When Ethan awake, he was different. At first, he tried to act as normal as he could, but when Meggy asked him to "drop the action", he instantly did as asked.

Forget the energic, attention seeking Ethan. He was now most at ease all by himself, not really wanting to be the center of attention, and he suddenly was abble to read a book for seven years old. He would also sometimes shift from English to an unknow language for his sister and her friends while talking.

Confused, the three kids were lost about Ethan's behavior.  
That's when a nurse came to them, explaining that Ethan was a 'reincarnate'.  
Now, they knew the word, for sure. It was in a lot of stories, after all, and they already met reincarnates before. But it was the very first time they actually saw someone having their revelation, and how it could change and affect you. And all three of them decided they didn't like it.

Though with time Ethan learned to deal with these memories and stopped acting all weird, it has never became the same again.  
_____________________

One month before _It_ happened, a children movie made its way in cinema. Nobody really knew how the outfit behind this movie had succeeded at having this thing on the big screen, but they still succeeded, and many families saw it.

The movie was about George Washington, and being a children movie, the creators had to make it family friendly. What does it mean? Well, fisrt of all, the British weren't the one to fight anymore but it was monsters from another dimension.  
Secondly, because children were obviously dumb, they wouldn't understand the fact that not everyone was fully bad or good, so Washington was a heroic and 'unable to do bad things' character.  
Also, the animation was often poor, and the dialogues superficial. And, to end well this description, the movie's name was "The Great Washington".

...

Yeah, it was lame.

But you know, one amazing thing with the kids, is that sometimes they would appreciate even lame movies because something got them in it. By so, a lot of children actually genuinely liked the movie, and for sure, they watched it at Meggy's house.  
To sum this up: Meggy loved it, while Ethan hated it. Soon, the both of them went into an argument, and they asked John and Carl what they thought.

It actually was a hard question, because John and Carl _didn't know_ what they thought. 'The Great Washington'... made them feel something. What? They didn't know. They couldn't tell if they liked it or not, just... they had felt something while watching.

Carl and John decided to convince one of their parents to buy the DVD so they could watch again and finally know.  
_____________________

They were seven when _It_ happened.

As usual, Carl and John were playi... fighting monsters for their kingdom's sake. Meggy, who calmed a bit since Ethan's accident and her meeting with Sky and Lisa, opened fire on them before throwing guns at the two friends.  
It have been one of the best water fight they had, girls vs. boys, Meggy, Sky and Lisa vs. Ethan, John and Carl. The girls won.  
And because you can't have fights all the time, they decided they would be soldiers fighting each other.

Of course, they said it differently, and it wasn't the same universe, anyway, so that's fine.

In the end, it has been every man for himself, and there were just John and Carl left, arguing about who had shot the other first.

 

Even in the worst movie, you can find something good. A line of dialogue, a joke, a background, a specific moment in a music, ...  
Jonh's something good was a scene. After watching 'The great Washington' fifty-one times (Carl, Meggy and him count), John decided he liked the film just for this very moment. What happened with the creators of the movie for this scene was a real mystery, but for sure, it was worth watching it.  
The scene showed a duel between one of Washington's soldier and a traitor who was a monster in disguise. It was tense, and the music, though not breathtaking, was good enough to set the atmosphere. John and Carl have been on the edge all along the first time, and even then, watching it again, John felt something who made his heart beat faster, his breath releasing only once the bang! had made itself clear and the monster had fell to the ground, life taken by the good and loyal soldier.

 

"Let's make a duel!" John told to Carl. "The first who shoot will win!"  
They both agreed and though Meggy had desperately wanted to be judge, Ethan was chosen instead.

"Turn back to each other!" he asked.  
You could have heard the annoyance in his voice, knowing perfectly where the idea had came from.

"Avancez d'un pas each time I say a number!"

"What?" Carl asked, confused by the switch in language.  
"He said to take a step each time he says a number!" John told him. "Keep going, Ethan!"  
"... you seak French?" was all the youngest said.  
"What? No!"  
"But you just..."  
"Keep going I said!"

Now that was weird, thought John. Though he knew the basics in French, like "Bonjour!" and "Merci!", because his grandfather would sometimes said them, he never learned French, he was too young for that.  
But Ethan said he had spoken in French. And John had understood Ethan.  
Was he a reincarnation of a French like Ethan? But why would he remember now?

"Six!"

John needed to concentrate if he wanted to win. He couldn't let his opponent fire first, he needed to do it, so Charles wouldn't have time to shot John. 

Charles?

No, Carl.

"Seven!"

Damn it, he almost missed it. Stay concentrated, Laurens.

Laurent.

Right, Laurent.

"Eight!"

His feet have been moving by themselves, he already knew how to duel, he had done it before, and he had beaten Charles.  
He could do it again.

"Nine!"

_One step. Free your mind. Focus. Don't let him shot, you'll die._

_The heavy smell of blood and powder fill the air._

_You can touch the tension filling this little place for duels._

_You know nothing else matter. It's you or him. Just shot him._

"Ten!"

_Turn around, shoot. Listen the body falling to the..._

SPLASH!

John blinked.  
In front of him, Carl was wet, and John's clothes were dripping water.

"OK, huh, it was really fast, so I'm not sure, but, huh, I think Carl won," Ethan hesitated.  
"Congrats, Carl!" Meggy exclaimed.  
"Well done," Sky added.  
"Don't worry, John, it was really close!" Lisa assured.

A dead silence answered them, as Carl and John have been staring to each other without a word, water guns still in hands.

"John...? Carl...?" called hesitantly Meggy.

This seemed to pull them off of their transe, John taking a step towards Carl.  
Carl stiffened.  
John took another step.

They were looking at the other, watching every move he would do. Then suddenly, they walked to each other, few inches from the other's face.

John looked in Carl's eyes, and Carl did the same. They both knew who the other was. They didn't need to tell it. They just knew it.

They both backed up from two steps, and the witnesses of this scene knew an accord has been made between them.  
Then, they walked away, in opposite directions.

Carl Jordan and John Laurent never talked to each other atfer It happened.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you weren't expecting a good ending.
> 
> What did you think? English isn't my native language, so I must have done mistakes, please tell me and explain them to me if I did, so it's not going to happen again.


End file.
